"On occasion of Yom Kippur, Ron Ben-Yishai examines Israel’s struggle against Arab ‘resistance’
....The problem is that all of the above – the temporary lull we secured and the impressive defense buildup – are still no guarantee that the State of Israel can cope with the growing stratetigic threat on its very existence.
What we lack today is a winning strategy. Such strategy would enable us to successfully cope with the “slow destruction” strategy used by Iran, Syria, and radical Islamic elements to undermine Israel’s staying power and ultimately wipe it off the map. Hizbullah, which utilized this strategy with a great degree of success during the Second Lebanon War, gave it its name: Muqauma (“Resistance” in Arabic.)
In its current format, the Muqauma identifies three Israeli vulnerabilities: The civilian home front, the Israeli public’s sensitivity to civilian causalities and even more so to IDF casualties, and the sensitivity of our political leaders to international public opinion and to the pressures exerted by bereaved families, captives’ families, and the media......
All of the above does not aim to prompt Israel’s surrender at once, but rather, to exhaust it time after time, round by round, until it collapses on its own.....
This strategy was not devised by an ingenious Islamic planner. It emerged out of trial and error since the 1970s: The Katyusha rockets and infiltrations from Lebanon, and later the fighting in the South Lebanese security zone; the missiles fired at Israel in the First Gulf War; the intifadas; and the latest upgrade – the Second Lebanon War......"
....The problem is that all of the above – the temporary lull we secured and the impressive defense buildup – are still no guarantee that the State of Israel can cope with the growing stratetigic threat on its very existence.
What we lack today is a winning strategy. Such strategy would enable us to successfully cope with the “slow destruction” strategy used by Iran, Syria, and radical Islamic elements to undermine Israel’s staying power and ultimately wipe it off the map. Hizbullah, which utilized this strategy with a great degree of success during the Second Lebanon War, gave it its name: Muqauma (“Resistance” in Arabic.)
In its current format, the Muqauma identifies three Israeli vulnerabilities: The civilian home front, the Israeli public’s sensitivity to civilian causalities and even more so to IDF casualties, and the sensitivity of our political leaders to international public opinion and to the pressures exerted by bereaved families, captives’ families, and the media......
All of the above does not aim to prompt Israel’s surrender at once, but rather, to exhaust it time after time, round by round, until it collapses on its own.....
This strategy was not devised by an ingenious Islamic planner. It emerged out of trial and error since the 1970s: The Katyusha rockets and infiltrations from Lebanon, and later the fighting in the South Lebanese security zone; the missiles fired at Israel in the First Gulf War; the intifadas; and the latest upgrade – the Second Lebanon War......"
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